Diaspora assistance is not being recognized

Sep 04, 2016 Letters

Dear Editor,
Although the diaspora is playing an important role to the economy of Guyana by way of regular remittances to relatives and friends, and their contributions to schools, churches, political parties etc, it is felt by some that their assistance is not being recognized. Nevertheless, they are involved in national activities and are concerned about the future of the country of their birth.
Some have been discussing the recent press reports which state that in
the next three years Guyana will commence to produce massive quantities of oil for commercial purposes. There have been mixed reactions to the report. A senior lawyer said “this would only become a reality if Venezuela ceases and desists from its claim to 2/3 of Guyana. President Maduro has gone quiet because his domestic politics has him fighting to hold on to office….. Maduro will say that the US is aiding and abetting Guyana so as to destabilize Venezuela….I am not sure if Caprilles will be different”
A regional businessman said, “I have said before that unless you get a regime that has a great relationship with Venezuela and Suriname getting to produce oil in commercial quantities is going to be very challenging. Jagdeo had that with both nations and their leaders. The current Government from Granger, Harmon, Moses to Ramjattan are virtually unknown to these countries, though they can be changed with good diplomatic and negotiating skills.”
Another raised three points: (a) the Government at home must govern fairly and equitably (b) the Government must aggressively pursue a binding international settlement with both Venezuela and Suriname, utilizing both diplomacy and the available international fora, using all the necessary resources (c) both the current and past governments are too cheap and need to reform their attitudes.
The Chinese have a saying that “good thing no cheap, and cheap thing no good. They must retain appropriate international experts to pursue and/or defend the claims from these two countries. Apart from which, if border conflicts ensue it is highly unlikely that international oil companies would want to continue exploration activities, unless Uncle Sam is firmly behind them. A few members of the diaspora feel that the Guyana Government (current and past) does not want input from the diaspora because “they say we ran and they remained to develop the country.”
Oscar Ramjeet

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